There's no value in putting out this information for free to the general public, as anyone who has a serious stake in the matter will be subscribing to the full report?
*spin-off* NPD to no longer release HW/SW sales numbers
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There's no value in putting out this information for free to the general public, as anyone who has a serious stake in the matter will be subscribing to the full report?
It may be inherent to competitive sports ideally, but unfortunately its true that some take the industry way more seriously and in a twisted way.
Billy Idol
Legend
How can a company stop another unrelated company disseminating it's statistical gatherings? It's not like Nintendo owns the copyright on their sales figures! What leverage do they or any other console company have to stop anyone reporting the sales data? how could Sony get NPD to stop? The response is, "we don't like our low sales figures," is, "that's your problem for making a product people don't want to buy"! Are we going to have football teams silencing sports reports that tell us they aren't performing very well?!
In fact when you look at something far more damning (there's that word again!) as a negative Top Gear report, you see companies at the receiving end of harsh criticism but unable to do a thing about it (other than not supply vehicles) because, thank goodness, we have liberal speech policies in the vaguely democratised world.Nah. This has to just be an internal business decision. Seems too 'conspiracy theory' to me otherwise. Perhaps it's as simple as NPD realised people were using their numbers freely and wanted more people paying for them, so reduced their 'freeware' offering. Now you download the free chart, reaching the widest possible audience, and pay to unlock the full stats mode, monetising the model.
I seemed to recall NPD doing something like this before (pulling back from releasing the hardware figures) and also recalled that it took Sony's permission for them to carry on. Now, as every google search about NPD stopping the release of sales info points to the recent decision, I can't find any quote about the Sony thing. I do seem to recall it was quite a positive move on Sony's part though, given that they were firmly in 3rd place in the hardware wars and were regularly mocked on forums for their monthly NPD defense press-releases.
However, I did manage to find the following, which was the reason (from way back in November 2007) as to why NPD were looking to withold sales numbers, and what would have to happen for them to continue releasing them:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...duce-sales-numbers-available-to-the-press.ars
Given that they are only releasing the sales numbers with the 'permission' of the hardware manufacturers, it's not too much of a stretch to conclude that one or more of those hardware manufacturers has withdrawn that permission.
I suppose if their major custom comes from the software companies, you'd make sure you keep them happy. Otherwise, this is a bit daft to be their lap-dogs when the console companies have no rights to that information!
Actually I also heard somewhere that Vgchartz was monetizing their sales data in much the same way. Whether it is true or not, NPD believes IIRC that Vgchartz copies them. So effectively they don't want one of their competitors essentially reselling their data (in their eyes).
We ended up getting the Big 3 hardware plus DS.
And also #1 software.
So technically, we only missed out on PSP+Ps2 sales, and four software titles, which doesn't sound like much.
Still, doing top ten software by title obscures a lot of the data.
I guess this month wasnt too bad, but I could see it getting worse. Would Nintendo really be happy about the negativity releasing the Wii number brought them?
I still have not seen any NPD leaks either.
And also #1 software.
So technically, we only missed out on PSP+Ps2 sales, and four software titles, which doesn't sound like much.
Still, doing top ten software by title obscures a lot of the data.
I guess this month wasnt too bad, but I could see it getting worse. Would Nintendo really be happy about the negativity releasing the Wii number brought them?
I still have not seen any NPD leaks either.
When I posted to kickstart the discussion I didn't think Sony (MS and Nintendo?) really had any pull with NPD like that. Thanks for this. If you do come across the original 2007 article, be sure to let us know. Btw, for how long back then did they hold off publishing numbers, do you recall?
In general, you need permission or even $$$ from or to the brand owners to gather their sales data. It's sensitive information, especially the detailed level sales data. Even the distributors themselves may not know some of these data in various parts of the world. It takes a lot of effort to gather and compile them.
With sales data, you can do a lot of analysis. The brand owners may share them selectively so that they have a better understanding of the overall market. They are not meant for consumers though (because they most likely don't know how to use the data properly).
I also find it weird that as a business, they couldn't provide data in what... May this year ? due to IT upgrades. ^_^
With sales data, you can do a lot of analysis. The brand owners may share them selectively so that they have a better understanding of the overall market. They are not meant for consumers though (because they most likely don't know how to use the data properly).
I also find it weird that as a business, they couldn't provide data in what... May this year ? due to IT upgrades. ^_^
These posts keep rolling in...sure, the importance of winning is inherent in competitive sports for the TEAMS ACTUALLY PLAYING and yet a billion+ people seems to enjoy or hate it when "their team" wins or loses.
In no way will I apologize for enjoying sales numbers and guess what if my stock rises or falls I can STILL enjoy the games. Hopefully a game has sold-through enough units that I can enjoy its sequel...it is almost like the games sales numbers dictate if I will get to enjoy another game, funny that. Sometimes sales can even dictate if a company is even able to keep its doors open...just sometimes though.
These posts keep rolling in...sure, the importance of winning is inherent in competitive sports for the TEAMS ACTUALLY PLAYING and yet a billion+ people seems to enjoy or hate it when "their team" wins or loses.
In no way will I apologize for enjoying sales numbers and guess what if my stock rises or falls I can STILL enjoy the games. Hopefully a game has sold-through enough units that I can enjoy its sequel...it is almost like the games sales numbers dictate if I will get to enjoy another game, funny that. Sometimes sales can even dictate if a company is even able to keep its doors open...just sometimes though.
I don't understand the lack of understanding by some
There are many parallels to the "Sales Age" phenomenon in other arenas. Fantasy sports and simulated stock trading are two off of the top of my head. Testing your knowledge of an industry/organization/market by attempting to accurately model future events is hardly a unique pastime and I really don't see how it has ever been detrimental to discussion in any of the other areas where it is prevalent. Quite the opposite, actually.And if these areas of discussion don't appeal to you? Don't participate. Don't enter a thread where sales discussion is the topic and ignore comments that reference them. Easy.
Edit:And another thing...
There are still going to be sales numbers released. The difference now is that those sales numbers will be released for the benefit of the organization releasing them. How many times have we noticed the comical amount of spin the big 3's PR put into these sales numbers. Imagine how bold they will be now, when the public doesn't have the ability to independently review those statements.
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These posts keep rolling in...sure, the importance of winning is inherent in competitive sports for the TEAMS ACTUALLY PLAYING and yet a billion+ people seems to enjoy or hate it when "their team" wins or loses.
In no way will I apologize for enjoying sales numbers and guess what if my stock rises or falls I can STILL enjoy the games. Hopefully a game has sold-through enough units that I can enjoy its sequel...it is almost like the games sales numbers dictate if I will get to enjoy another game, funny that. Sometimes sales can even dictate if a company is even able to keep its doors open...just sometimes though.
I don't think individual performance matters in this case.
IMHO, their combined performance is more important, say compared to cellphone gaming and social gaming.
Individual performance is certainly important if you are interested remotely in an exclusive feature, like say move or kinect.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Japan is a far smaller country with far fewer retailers. Although consolidation in the gaming retail market makes things slightly easier. That said, there's still far more distributors and retailers in the US than there are in Japan. That becomes even more so if you start to include internet e-tailers which are far more prevalent in the US. The chances of one or more of them potentially having delays in collating data are therefore much higher.
Regards,
SB
They should try using those newfangled automated thinking machines to pass the data around and collect it in one place. What do they call 'em now, "computers"?
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Cute...
But I'd be willing to bet that most if not all private corporations and businesses aren't all that willing to allow NPD direct access to their company financial or inventory servers. Thus NPD still has to rely on them submitting the data either at set times or when requested. Some company's may have automated systems to do that, but there'll be at least as many that don't. Having worked in retail at a variety of places, there's even times when internal dissemination of such data can be delayed for whatever reasons. And if it can be delayed internally, what do you suppose the chances are that it'll be delayed when relaying it to an outside company?
Regards,
SB